I can’t believe it’s been a month since the Women’s Entrepreneurial Workshop in Ireland. So here’s some of the pictures from the two day session — thanks to Sabrina Sweeney for snapping these. Some of the women have formed a working group and they’ve already had a follow up meeting.
It’s breast cancer awareness month again and being a thriver/survivor myself, I cannot help but reflect upon some of my experiences and the friends and family who have been with me on this journey.
I want to dedicate this blog post to one of the women in my life who made a difference in my healing process. Judith and I worked together at several companies and we’d always had fun working through the myriad projects and challenges of consulting life. But when I was diagnosed with breast cancer, Judith was the one who told me to take a leave of absence and treat my healing and wellness as my sole “project at the moment”. Judith called me every week to ask how I was doing and she was the one who encouraged me to take off the wig and be myself. I’ll never forget the morning I met her for breakfast and she told me how beautiful I looked.
Judith and I now have different career paths and family obligations. But we still keep in touch and I’ve never forgotten how she brought her spirit and creativity to me during that time. Women’s leadership isn’t just about helping each other with career networking and competency; it’s also about seeing and encouraging the beauty in each other’s spirit.
Til next time,
Dr. M.
Unleashing your creativitiy is one way to bring your spirit to work. Walt Disney said “if you can dream it, you can do it. Yeats said “tread softly because you tread on my dreams.” What are your dreams? What do you do to encourage your dreams? Here’s some ideas:
1. Envision a BIG, stretch goal for yourself. Have faith in yourself and what you can do.
2. Ask a male colleague or friend for input. Men tend to see themselves in more competitive roles; women see themselves in more nurturing roles. So ask one of the men to give you input to your goal.
3. Determine the steps you need to take to reach the goal. The president of my college says “Yard by yard, it’s hard. Inch by inch, it’s a cinch”. Lay out the entire project but begin with one action and activity at a time - make it part of your life.
4. See, feel, think, and speak about what it will be like when you achieve your goal. Live it!
I know it’s been ages since I last blogged here. So much has happened…my book is finally published and it is beautiful. The typesetting and cover art are phenomenal. Sue at justyourtype.biz created a beautifully elegant typset for the manuscript. And Sr. Ann Therese Kelly created and designed the cover art. The cover is joyous, creative, and magnetic. I cannot thank Sue and Sr. Ann enough for the work they did to get me to this part of my book journey. Click on this link to see the cover .
Have you ever focused on a major project and when it was completed asked youself “Now what’? That’s what I’m reflecting upon this week. Now what? Of course, in the next stage of my book, marketing will be a major focus of my time. However, I’m already thinking about the next book. I have some ideas that I’ll be journalling about over the summer and hoping to share here with you on this blog.
Here’s some questions for you to consider if you are in the “Now what” stage of a project:
What have I been working on, thinking about, writing about lately in my personal, family, and professsional life?
Is there something that’s calling to me?
Is there something that I’ve been putting off?
What’s the one action I can take today that moves me toward what’s next?
Til next time,
Dr. M.